I want to quote this post again, because it's pretty important, and it seems like a lot of people didn't see it.
I wanted to make a quick check of the source in the OP so I looked into the "IEA says 3.5 degrees by 2035" claim. It looks to be unsupported. The primary source clearly appears to be the Christian Science Monitor, seeing how most sources either quote it verbatim or link back to it, but try as I might, there's just no indication of there being an actual IEA release to that effect.
Quite the contrary: actual IEA releases seem to predict a much more modest 3.5 degrees by 2200 under current committments scenario.
https://www.iea.org/publications/fr...2015SpecialReportonEnergyandClimateChange.pdf
During the search, I also found indications that the source is plagiarising Mother Jones with that terrifying list of theirs that the 3.5 degrees by 2035 claim is on.
http://www.motherjones.com/environm...nvironment-apocalypse-human-extinction?page=2
Big caveat: I'm not saying there's nothing to worry about - there absolute is. But whenever you see these claims that climate change is proceeding much faster than expected or that we'll reach some temperature decades or centuries earlier than previously thought; be skeptical. Climate scientists are really good at what they do. Their models are pretty much on point, that's not the problem. The problem is the incredibly slow response on a global scale. But even a business as usual scenario is completely unlikely to create a sudden climate apocalypse; rather, it's the slow march towards it by the end of the century that should scare us, because that's when our children and grandchildren will live through it.
That's not to say we're not in the shit. We are
very deep in the shit. But there's still a significant difference between the apocalypse being visible in the distance and it being on your front lawn.
If you want some hope, see this post:
And I'm also going to add
this TED talk on a third Industrial Revolution, which I found a bit hopeful.
And there is some
research happening to try to find ways to scrub carbon out of the air. It's early, and I certainly can't guarantee it will go anywhere, but there's a chance.
Hope is a little like a drug. With the right application of it, it gets people moving and motivated. But if you take too much of it and just sit back and trust things will work out, it becomes toxic. You also need to take action.
So please, do whatever you can. If you have the money to install solar or buy an electric vehicle, do that. Especially if you can do both, because then you can drive around guilt-free! (I don't know that I'll ever have the money for this, but I'd do it with a quickness if I did! Even as it is, I think I'll be seeing if I can do something with even a couple little panels once I'm out of school.) Try to walk, bike, or use public transit if you can't afford an electric car. Vote for and support politicians and public figures that care about fixing this. Vote for it every single chance you get. Donate to climate change causes if you can, or anything else you can think of.
The wall may not be ten feet away, but it's there in the distance, and we're going downhill. But we do have a chance to turn the train enough so that not every single car crashes into it. And I'll take some of the train cars surviving over total destruction of the only confirmed source of life and consciousness in the universe any day.
